9628 Birds. 



May not starlings, like many other members of animated nature, seek to hide their 

 weakness and coming desolation from their fellow kind, as it is a known fact that 

 many birds and beasts bully their own sick, and indeed kill them outright, apparently 

 to rid the world of useless lumber ? I have only once found a starling dead, apparently 

 from sickness and old age combined, and I have it now stuffed. Can any of your cor- 

 respondents solve this mystery for me ? I have kept the foity-ihree skulls and portions 

 of the deposit, and should any correspondent wish to see them I will, with your per- 

 mission, leave them at the office of the ' Zoologist.' — W. Jesse, jun. 



Small Eggs nf the Common Dumeslic FdwI. — A lady residing in this neighbourhood 

 possesses a hen which has successively laid nine eggs, almost as small as those of the 

 kingfisher, and of similar shape, but as usual devoid of yolk, the cletch being comple- 

 mented by a remarkably malformed eg'r^ three inches long and about one inch broad, 

 which, near one end, contained a yolk, beneath which lay a hard, horny-looking sub- 

 stance, yellow in colour, and apparently a second but malformed yolk. The bird being 

 of mature age, neither young nor yet old, I take the occurrence to be an uncommoa 

 one.—//. Evroyd Smith. 



Little Bittern near Plymouth. — Two little bitterns were seen in the neighbourhood 

 of Plymouth on Sunday last, one of which was captured by a boy, who said he found 

 it by the side of a small stream, entangled in a bramble-bush, and that another flew 

 away as he came up. T examined the captured bird, and found it to be a male in 

 adult plumage.— /oArt Gatcombe; Lower Dunford Street, Slonehouse, Devon, May 14, 

 1865. 



Snipe Nesting in Warwickshire.— This morning (April I9th) I saw a nest of this 

 bird in Sutton Park, Warwickshire. It contained four eggs qnite fresh. The nest 

 was placed amongst some heather on a marshy {•round adjoining one of the pools in 

 the park, and was not at all concealed. Is it not early for the snipe to breed ? — 

 Charles B. Hodgson. 



Plumage of the Ruff.—Mx. Rodd inquires (Zool. 956.5), " How old are the male 

 birds before ihiy put ou their full court dress ?" No author, that I know of, has satisfac- 

 torily ascertained the point. Temminck remarks, " Les plumes de la fraise sont i)lus 

 ou moins longues suivant Ics a;,'cs des males." But Montagu, who devoted much time 

 and attention to the subject, seems to have thought that the ruff arrives at maturity in 

 one year, for he remarks, " It does not appear to be the opinion of fowlers that the 

 males are more than one season arriving at maturity. * * * The opinion, there- 

 fore, that those rufiluss males are birds of a very late brood of the preceding season, is 

 a reasonable conjecture. * * * The tail of the young birds is more brown, * * * 

 and those with dark feathers predominating, have the darkest bills and legs. * * * 

 We observed that those who had the ruff more or less while, retained that colour about 

 the neck after the autumnal moult, * * * A young male that was taken destitute 

 of a ruff in the breeding season, whose plumage was mostly cinereous, except about 

 the neck and head, put on the ruff in confinement the next spring, * * * and the 

 feathers were a »n!x/u>e of ttAiip and chestnut. * * * On the 17tli of May, 1806, 

 a ruff, shot in Devon, had a white ruff, quite perfect." These remarks lead to the 

 conclusion that the writer, as well as the fowlers referred to, may have erred in sup- 

 posing that the ruff " arrives at maturity in oue season." The male with the " white 

 ruff, quite perfect," was probably an old bird, the pure white plumage being generally 

 found typical or characteristic of maturity or age. The plumage being so varied iu 

 individuals of this species it might naturally be supposed that they are long in attaining 



